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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Movie Review
Grade: A-
The questionable effort to craft a film adaptation of Stieg Larson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - a novel that has already requited a film a mere two years ago - may be deemed redundant. But with that set aside, director David Fincher’s English-language version proves why he is one of the most diverse and adept filmmakers alive. Although it suffers from the same bland tonal issues that plagued the near flawless Social Network, Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo is all in all an invigorating thriller, an accomplished technical feat, and overall a commendable film that is superior to the original in every imaginable way.
Writer Steven Zaillian (who has won fame via Schindler’s List) is true to Larson’s lucrative franchise as its extensive plot pans out in its lengthy 158 minute run time. The film focuses on Millennium investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), who is publicly disgraced by making unobvious accusations against a major CEO. In order to stray away from public attention, an aristocratic family - headed by Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) - hires Mikael to solve Vanger’s niece’s murder that has plagued that families relationship for four decades. When this cold case proves to be too challenging, he hires Lisbeth Salender (Rooney Mara) - an expert researcher whose extreme riot girl/gothic style coincides with her “insane” psychological state. Dragon Tattoo’s puzzle-like plot structure can categorize the film as a contemporary noir, revolving around its dumbfounding details and disclosing aspects. Overall, the film’s unraveling nature attempts to dive into the dark aspect of mankind; And although the it follows the same plot as the original, David Fincher’s approach does succeed in crafting a haunting mood of malevolence, something I cannot say for the Swedish version.
The acting force is led by Rooney Mara, who gives us a modern display of what a breakout performance truly is. Larson’s iconic Lisbeth Salander is hard to convey as she is a character whose symbol as an abused female with plentiful individuality screams a modern Jane Austen character. But Mara (who prior has minimal fame from last year’s Social Network) is brilliant. Without saying much, the actre
ss is able to channel Salander’s implied abused past, creating a pathos appeal towards the character; But at the same time, she pushes away the audience through her rough and tough antics. It is a very complex and adept performance, and undoubtedly showcases the potential that this up and coming actress. Mara overshadows Daniel Craig, who has an efficient performance. But like many current action stars, he simply recalls the same character in his past filmography; You are essentially watching another rehashed Bond performance.
Dragon Tattoo is fast paced, thrilling, and substantially an engrossing film shunning its very extensive storytelling. Like Fincher’s previous effort, the film displays some top notch editing set to a yet again, exceptional haunting and modern score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. But set aside the filmmaking aspects, from solely an audience member’s point of view, the overall effect Fincher assembles is an encapsulation of a dark world. Similar to his past effort 7even, Dragon Tattoo takes Larson’s work and creates an ambiance that attempts to comment on the modern world and man’s numbness to immorality. Although Fincher succeeds with this, the flaw that the film possesses - as I find in some of his previous films - is that it has somewhat of a flat tone and a lack of characters incapable of sympathy. While that is not necessary in a work such as Larson’s, the film’s flat emotional structure results in an occasional bland environment. But overall, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a magnificent adaptation of Larson’s iconic contemporary piece that displays Fincher’s stylisitic filmmaking: a film that distinguishes his style among modern directors. Its disturbing nature, along with the film’s fleeting and engrossing storytelling, makes this film undoubtedly a part of the director’s essential catalog. Grade: A-
